There is a growing technological need for means of packaging capable of combining substances whose compatibility raises difficulties when they are brought into contact. This is particularly the case with liquid products such as washing aids. Although it is possible to package the constituents of a powdered washing aid in the same container, it is not permissible in practice to formulate liquid washing aids beforehand when some of the constituents are capable of releasing active oxygen, that is to say peroxidic constituents of the perborate or organic peroxyacid type. It is known, however, that the presence of active oxygen at the time of washing is wholly desirable for obtaining the optimum effectiveness. In the case of liquid washing aids attempts are therefore made to produce formulations containing the same basic combinations as those in the granular or powdered detergents, but practical impossibilities then stand in the way because it is known that when traditional active compounds and peroxidic compounds are incorporated together within a liquid washing aid, the latter compounds rapidly lose their effectiveness. Thus, it has been found that after storage periods of the order of two weeks the active oxygen of these compounds has been practically completely released, thus becoming unavailable at the time of use in the wash bath.
Formulation and packaging problems of this kind are well known to the specialist. By way of reference to illustrate the state of the art there may be mentioned the European Patent Application published under No. 0,132,726, which describes a package in the form of a sachet containing a substance as well as another sachet of smaller size containing another substance which is incompatible with the first. The material of which the outer sachet is made is water-permeable, as is that of the inner sachet, but the materials are chosen to permit the diffusion of the substances which they contain at different temperatures, and this permits the packaging to be adapted to practical needs, for example of washing. The teaching of this prior document thus consists in presenting in the same packaging individual sachets which can contain liquid substances, while choosing the sachets so that they release the substances they contain at different temperatures. Such packaging containers are single-use and comprise a plurality of compartments, the basic concept resulting in a use, necessarily spaced out in time, of the substances present in each of the individual sachets. Furthermore, it is essential that the latter be soluble in water or have individual properties in order to allow water to pass through at a specific temperature. This is why the outer sachet is made from a sheet of open-pore polyurethane foam, whereas the inner sachet is made of polyvinyl alcohol.
The subject of the invention is a single-use multicompartment container which enables the contents of each of the compartments to be delivered simultaneously, at the time of use, independently of the temperature of the surroundings. Similarly, the materials of which the walls of the compartments are made are of no critical importance and, in contrast to the teaching of the above mentioned European Patent Application No. 0,132,726, these walls are impervious to water, the contents of each of the compartments being discharged through orifices which are provided beforehand.
It will also be recalled that, in the field of machine washing of laundry, the Applicant Company is already the owner or titleholder of a number of patent applications which may be mentioned by way of references to illustrate the state of the art.
The application FR No. 84/06,151, filed on Apr. 18, 1984, for "Process for washing linen in a machine with a liquid detergent and device for its aplication" relates particularly to a device, generally reloadable, which is firstly filled with liquid detergent and is then placed in the drum of the machine with the laundry to be washed. The detergent contained in the device diffuses gradually into the washing medium and into the laundry placed in the machine. In one embodiment, the device comprises a filling orifice and vents for the gradual release of the liquid within the laundry being washed.
Patent application FR No. 84/13,210, filed on Aug. 24, 1984 for "Device for washing in a machine with a liquid detergent and process employing the said device" relates to a device of the above type which is more particularly characterized in that it is of substantially spherical shape. A certain number of orifices allow the liquid to diffuse.
Continuing its work, the Applicant Company has now developed a container while, on the one hand, is single-use and, on the other hand, provides a solution to the technical problems briefly referred to above for packaging substances which do not exhibit satisfactory compatibility when they are brought together. A particularly advantageous application of the container according to the invention is the packaging of liquid washing aid formulations containing peroxidic constituents, that is to say constituents intended to release active oxygen during the washing.